The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) has granted provisional accreditation to the School of Engineering’s four-year undergraduate degree programs under the outcome-based education approach, making the School the first in Hong Kong to acquire this recognition.
Provisional accreditation was granted following a two-day visit by the HKIE accreditation team last Fall. The result continues the School's long-held HKIE recognition, which covers programs within the Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Computer Engineering Program.
Such status is important as HKIE is a signatory of the Washington Accord, a recognition agreement between engineering degree accreditation bodies overseas. Engineering degrees accredited by HKIE also receive recognition from other Washington Accord signatories, giving the programs international standing.
The accreditation team was led by Prof David Holger, Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Dean of the Graduate College of Iowa State University in the US. Prof Holger praised the School for creating an environment of creative, educational, and curricular innovation which was well in line with the increasingly complex demands on graduates seeking to prepare themselves for an engineering career.
The accreditation team also highlighted the high quality of the School's academic staff, and the School’s ability to secure resources to develop excellent educational programs, and the way the School had taken full advantage of Hong Kong's education reform move to a four-year degree program to refocus on outcome-based education and continuous improvement.
Those involved in the exercise included HKUST President Prof Tony F Chan, Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief, management teams for departments and programs, students, employers and alumni.
